Once Upon a Dream
by Aracertariel
Summary: Draco's not actually sure if she's real. But she's certainly strange.


Author's Note: I am in a fit of updating. I am uploading a lot of things that have sat on my computer for years - some since high school, which has been more than a decade ago.

* * *

_Draco_

The first time she came was a few weeks before the start of the new term. She shoved aside my dreams like a curtain and plopped down on the foot of my bed. I would have thought I was awake except for the dreams still going on in the background like poorly painted backdrops. That, and the utter absurdity of her presence there.

"I told my guide I needed a friend and he sent me here. I'm Angel." A flood of color and emotion accompanied the name, too quickly to sort out. "Who're you?" She asked it in a way that demanded something more than a name. I tried to tell her, but nothing came out of my mouth. She looked shocked. "Rune sent me to a total novice?"

"What do you mean by that?" I found I could speak after all, if not to say my name.

"You're a – a newbie, beginner, one of the uninitiated. You've obviously never projected or dream-walked before. Any half-decent guide would have told you to get a name right off."

"I have a name. A perfectly good one."

"I don't doubt your parents gave you a name at birth," she said, rolling her eyes. "But this name has to be one you choose yourself. You have to imbue it with the essence of who you are and make the name be who you are. It protects you in some ways, and helps you navigate out here - especially in trying to find your way home if you get lost."

"Lost where?" I was curious in spite of myself. This whole scenario was too surreal for me to quite take it seriously. "I mean, we're in my room."

"No, we're actually in your dreams. I mostly just dream-walk, so that's how I contacted you. I could teach you how to do that – after you have a name. If you want to learn some other way to travel this plane you'll probably need to find someone else to teach you. I just know this and a little projection. And really, I'm not very good at that."

"I… have no idea what you just said. You're mad aren't you?"

"Mad? Oh, that's British for crazy, right? Yeah, a little I guess. Everyone is though." She smiled, and the smile sent shivers through me. "Now," she continued, "you'll want the name to be something that will suit you for a long time. And that you won't mind others knowing you by. You'll probably want to think about it a bit. I've met people who didn't, or who started projecting very young, and haven't got enough power to change their name now that they've outgrown their original one. They're not very happy. It takes a lot out of you to redefine who you are. So, look at baby name books or something, and I'll talk to you again soon. Okay?"

With that she hopped up, and shoved her way back past the dream curtains. Her stiff, white cloak twitched oddly as the dreams dropped back into place behind her.

"Er, all right."

When I woke, the strange dream was still clear in my mind. Find a name? Why not? After breakfast I skipped out on my summer lessons and secreted myself in the family library. That was one place I knew my tutors would never think to look for me.

I found what I was looking for shoved in behind my mother's romances. It was old and dusty… and pink. I wiped it off with a grimace and opened it up. To my surprise, the book was heavily marked – some names circled or starred, and others emphatically marked out. I could only assume these were names my mother had considered for me, and was instantly glad to be male. I don't know if I could have survived primary school, never mind secondary, as Amaryllis or Gardenia. The boys' names were slightly better. At least there weren't flowers. I skimmed through, paying special attention to the names that had almost been mine. Near the back, I found it. The entry had been marked through, but not scribbled out.

I heard footsteps and quickly slammed the book and hid it back where it had lain for so many years already. Someone was coming. What would my parents think if they found me paging through a collection of baby names? Two shelves and a random history book later, I was safe. But it was only the awkward old witch supposed to be teaching me advanced transfiguration so I would be ahead in the fall. I let her drag me away, knowing my father wouldn't find out from her that I'd missed the morning's lessons. She'd be sacked for it. So the secret was safe, and I'd found my name. I almost didn't mind the afternoon's dissertation on complex wand motions.

* * *

_Angel_

I woke all at once, and for the first time in weeks found myself looking forward to the day. Rune had led me to the nameless boy, and left me to make introductions. I suspected that was so that I would have to be the one to deal with the surprise when I discovered how new the boy was to traveling in other planes. Like Rune's, the boy's mind felt very far away, but I was almost certain I could find my way back without trouble.

Now there was just the day to get through. Summer classes. Ugh. Electives, but with both my parents as teachers at my school, they weren't exactly optional. Maybe they wouldn't be so bad now that I had something to look forward to.

A new friend… I could hardly wait.


End file.
